


Paris Burning: Fun Facts

by thecitysmith



Category: Paris Burning (thecitysmith)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2018-07-26 00:56:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7553998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecitysmith/pseuds/thecitysmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fun facts about the world Paris Burning takes part in, adding depth and answering questions, though perhaps at the same time raising more...</p><p>(taken from the tumblr blog in case of deletion)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Basically putting them here in case Yahoo destroys tumblr. Fun.

Fun Fact:

Paris is afraid that one day he’ll forget the sound of Jeanne’s voice


	2. Fun Fact #2

Fun Fact #2:

Due to an awkward turn of events over the course of a few decades, Las Vegas is married to at least a quarter of the world, and nearly all of the other American Cities. She keeps trying to find a way to bring this up at family gatherings, but never quite manages to do it.

(she likes to keep an ace up her sleeve; it could come in handy one day)


	3. Fun Fact #3

Fun Fact #3

Stockholm holds the record for longest time leaving city borders. This is because she got drunk (Copenhagen’s fault) and boarded an exploration vessel by accident. She was found centuries later by Christopher Columbus, standing on the shores of the New World, looking sheepish.

(all jokes aside she really was very ill. It took her an exceptionally long time to recover. Not to mention the Swedes losing their shit over their missing City)


	4. Fun Fact #4

Fun Fact #4:

To many humans’ disappointment, there is rarely such thing as a beautiful City.

They have no interest in such things, especially as fickle humans change the meaning of the word every decade.

To them, the scars on their backs, the calluses on their hands, the tattoos that fade and are inked over and over again are their beauty. Because they are their history more than anything else.

(everyone wants to think their City is beautiful and admired, but that's not how it works. A City is made beautiful by what it does and how it acts. Paris is ugly in his cynicism and beautiful in his love. If a City is unmarred then it has no history. Beauty, when Cities speak of it, is an action. Berlin thought Portsmouth was handsome because he was brave and dangerous in battle. Elizabeth saw the short and rather pointy-faced London as beautiful because of her passion and wit. This is the same for ever City. Their vision of beauty is different from the humans. Even Prague, one of the prettiest Cities, would cut off all her lovely long hair if it meant keeping the burns on her neck)


	5. Fun Fact #5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm being silly. Probably not canon.

Fun Fact #5:

When Queen Victoria criminalised homosexual activity between men, and denied that it could even happen between women, London’s reaction was a thing of legend. What she actually said was lost to time, but it’s implied it was some sort of offer to ‘teach’ the Queen exactly how such acts were possible. This led to the infamous ‘we are not amused’ line being uttered and London being locked up in the tower of London for three days.

It was actually supposed to be a week, except Lisbon heard of her distress and behaved in a rather dramatic manner. Witness reports state that, dressed as some kind of bandit in a mask, cape and sword, Lisbon climbed the tower and rescued her lover.

Then they eloped to Gibraltar and refused to return until Victoria had apologised. Europe was talking about it for _decades_.

(and that is how both the legend of Zorro and gay marriage was legalised in Britain in the 1800s)


	6. Fun Fact #6

Fun Fact #6:

Since the Second World War, Warsaw can't remember how to cry.


	7. Fun Fact #7

Fun Fact #7:

The other Canadian Cities have gotten ahold of Toronto’s baby pictures. War is inevitable.

(the other Cities are already placing their bets)


	8. Fun Fact #8

Catania was once killed for being a witness to a mafia hit.

They didn’t know who she was then, but they found out quickly enough. The hitmen themselves were killed almost instantly by drivers who suddenly drove off-road in a fit of homicidal rage (though they couldn’t tell you why they suddenly felt the need to run another human over).

The associates involved were found in bits and pieces, dumped on the steps leading up to the Basilica della Collegiata, where the boss who’d ordered the hit, and his family were strung up. 

It was a warning.

Catania, who’d dealt with earthquakes and volcanoes, was alright and healed within two days. (headshots tend to take a while). But every night until she opened her eyes, the Capital Cities in almost every country were missing and strange creatures hunted in her streets. They licked blood off their hands and laughed and no human in all of Sicily slept because they heard drums- drums in the deep-

(it was then that humans finally realised that a City’s love had a limit)


	9. Fun Fact #9

Barcelona has had the most songs dedicated to her by lovers. It was from them that the idea of ‘creating a mix tape’ for someone you liked came from, because eventually she had to find some way to store them easily. 

She currently runs a music store.


	10. Fun Fact #10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fun fact that kicked off an entire plot line.

Atlantis lives.


	11. Fun Fact #11

Washington D.C has a awkward, adorable crush on Canberra. Everyone knows except her. Her older brothers, in a bout of protectiveness, managed to sneak Washington’s name on the no flight list. Wellington still passes communications between the not-quite-lovers (Cities prefer letters no matter what) because he thinks it’s hilarious and wants to piss Sydney off. Boston, as any older sister should, found Washington’s diary and Salem - that witch - made a twitter account for it and they regularly update it with the best bits (such as “Mrs Canberra Washington”- with hearts all around it) to the delight of the rest of the world. Everyone knows about it (except Washington DC and Canberra) including the President of the United States, who’s terrified that if Washington D.C finds out he’ll try and declare independence…from the US (again).


	12. Fun Fact #12

Twin Cities are fated to die at the same time.

(And there are a lot of them: Minneapolis and St Paul pretend it isn't true, Dipolog and Dapitan trace their matching scars and know it is. Recife and Olinda are resigned, Chatham and Rochester find it comforting, and Salem holds Boston's hand in the hospital and thinks, 'Don't you dare go without me'.)


	13. Fun Fact #13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning: nuclear bombs

The other Japanese Cities pray that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are dead.

They pray that the nuclear attacks were enough like fire, in wiping out people and streets, that they managed to kill the Cities too.

They pray that it didn’t happen too fast; so fast that the Cities didn’t realise what had become of them. They pray that they didn’t survive.

Because the alternative is too horrific to contemplate.

(but every anniversary Tokyo finds a folded paper crane on her doorstep)

-

There are new Cities for these places, though their brothers and sisters still hesitate to say their names, names that are now part of a sad story. Lost in the pages. And these New Cities rebuild and renew and live, but sometimes they have terrible dreams; of lost and wandering spirits, of confused calling in the night. Voices calling their own names, because no one calls them now; they're already forgetting. Remember us they call, they were our children once too.


	14. Fun Fact #14

Cardiff is actually King Arthur. She agrees that this is a little hard to explain, so they don’t mention it to the humans.


	15. Fun Fact #15

Seeing as humans and Cities are considered different species, a City eating a human isn’t really considered cannibalism.

(Now what you really have to be afraid of is not this argument, but who exactly made this argument. Because let me tell you; it's not who you might expect)


	16. Fun Fact #16

There are at least three cults for each Capital City. They meet Tuesdays and Fridays and have excellent bake sales.

(All proceeds go to museums and galleries and doing up the city streets all nice, they also send flowers and chocolates to said City once a year. Sign up forms are available in the City Hall, but you need to bring your own robe)


	17. Fun Fact #17

New St. Petersburg has a little bit of a crush on Moscow.

She just wishes he’d pay more attention to her. Even during family gathering he seems to ignore her, and she tries to get his attention and just ends up making things worse. He becomes white-knuckled, staring at walls, and the other Cities are silent and there are so many ghosts in the room that St. Petersburg wonders if anyone can see her at all.

(she wonders what Moscow can see)

She asks Samara, who just looks sad and says “Oh child…” (it’s a little frightening, as Samara is quick to laugh and quick to temper, but never has she looked so beaten down before).

And Moscow ignores her. And maybe it’s more than a crush. She wants to know him, but every time she gets close he pulls back.

But sometimes, when she dances, St. Petersburg can feel him staring at her. Like he’s unable to look away.

 

(and so she lives in hope)


	18. Fun Fact #18

Columbus thought it’d be funny to sneak aboard Apollo 11. He became the first City to walk on the moon. He’s also very sorry and he’d like to come down now.

(because it's not like he needs a helmet or anything, but he's starting not to look human anymore. And the people in Ohio are starting to get shifty-eyed)


	19. Fun Fact #19

Warsaw received frequent love letters from a young Frenchman who called himself Feuilly. She wasn’t sure whether it was flattering or unnerving, though she did keep the rather lovely fan he sent her.

Then one year, he stopped sending them.

(she was surprised that she felt a little disappointed, but he was a human, she supposed he just lost interest eventually. Still it was nice to have an admirer, even for a little while)


	20. Fun Fact #20

Washington DC has freckles, but they disappear when he blushes; this happens quite often. When Canberra came to visit him in winter she got cold so he bought her a stripy Christmas sweater, only to realise later that he had the same one in his wardrobe. Now every time he opens his wardrobe and it’s cold he is struck by the  _agony of indecision_.

(Also his ringtone for Canberra is set to James Blunt’s ‘You’re Beautiful’)


	21. Fun Fact #21

Combeferre knows.


	22. Fun Fact #22

One winter Jehan was very ill, and couldn’t go into the meetings for over a week. He was seriously depressed, and the sodden, bare streets of Paris in winter didn’t help.

Then one morning he woke up and found that flowers had bloomed up through the cracks around his apartment. Tiny stars of white and purple dotting the ugly brick. Not many, and they were quite small and lopsided, but it was enough to inspire him.

He wrote into the small hours of the night, right through his fever, and the next morning was back in the cafe to share his poems about flowers in winter.

He didn’t notice Grantaire lifting a bottle to his lips to hide his smile.

('It's winter Jehan, those flowers are still going to die.'  
'Everything dies Grantaire, it doesn't mean they're not important while they last!')


	23. Fun Fact #23

All Cities are violent, fanatic sports fans. All of them.


	24. Fun Fact #24

Joly noticed that Grantaire, despite being a drunk, never seemed to show any of the lasting side effects of such a lifestyle.

He asked about it once, out of academic interest. The look he got in return was so frightened that he instantly regretted it. He knew that look, he saw it in the mirror every day after he thought he caught something.

“I’m very sorry,” he said, flustered, wishing he hadn’t brought it up in public, even though no one was looking in their direction. “I didn’t realise. Is there anything I can do? I mean, I won’t tell anyone if it’s…if it’s a disease of some sort.”

“A disease is a good word for it, my friend,” Grantaire said quietly. “But not one even you could cure.”

(Joly was careful around Grantaire after that. But he still looked it up in medical books to see if he could help, even though Grantaire had asked him not to. He didn't understand why Grantaire started laughing hysterically when he asked if it was contagious.)


	25. Fun Fact #25

(This is a fact that comes in two parts)

Dhaka, the Capital of Bangladesh, was normally considered a fairly pretty young woman. Today, however, she looked harried. Her brightly coloured clothing was hidden by her coat, her hair tucked into her collar as she hurried through the corridors of the hospital.

“Am I too late?” She asked the nurse, who shook her head and let her into one of the rooms where the heart rate monitor beat faintly.

There on the bed lay a frail old man. At age 87, he’d lived a full life. Still, seeing him lie there made Dhaka tear up, frustrated and angry at the injustice of it all.

The old man woke, blinked his rheumy eyes at her, then smiled.

“Mother.”

(Here is the first part: Cities are created from the earth. So when a City reproduces biologically, with either a human or even another City, the child is always, always human.)

As soon as they were born they were usually swept away in the utmost secrecy, given new names in different cities. More than enough wars had been fought when a beloved son or daughter had been held hostage. Now everyone just kept quiet, while keeping their eye on said offspring.

It was silly really. People tended to expect so much from the City’s blood-children, forgetting they were just human. They just remembered stories about Alexander the Great, son of Pella, never mind the scars he gave his own father. And true some became legends, and others lived quietly, having families, being heroes of smaller stories.

“You should visit the children you know, they’d be pleased to see their Grandmother.”

“I just thought,” she twisted the fabric of her dress, wishing she knew what to say. “I thought it’d be easier. They wouldn’t understand why I couldn’t age, or why they couldn’t tell anyone.”

“Ah well. It was just a thought.”

He himself had not understood, not why his mother looked so sad, or so scarred. Not why she was rarely allowed to visit, and was always watched over by fierce-looking guards when she did.

“Oh, I brought you something.” How could she’ve forgotten? She’d made it just last night. “It’s your favourite…sorry I didn’t-”

“Mother, you know I can’t eat that anymore,” he said gently.

“Oh, of course.” Of course she didn’t. He had probably decided that in the years she hadn’t managed to be there. Tears welled up again, and then a frail hand laced fingers with hers.

“Thank you for coming,” he said, smiling brightly. He squeezed her hand once. “I feel ready to go now.”

(Here is the second: because of their humanity, whether in battle, or of disease, or of old age, a City always has to watch their child die before them).

Dhaka held his hand until the heart rate monitor went flat, and then for a long time after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jossed. Cities can't reproduce at all now.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Elopement Never Goes Out Of Fashion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7565239) by [SearchingforSerendipity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SearchingforSerendipity/pseuds/SearchingforSerendipity)




End file.
